68-year-old man developed a new type of chromatographic instrument during the year

When the elderly people in Shanghai retired at home, they can generally live a very moist life. They can play cards and play chess with their old neighbors, or enjoy their family's happiness. However, 68-year-old Feng Guoli seems to have no interest in these. He devoted most of his retirement time to the manufacture of domestically-made scientific instruments in an industry that is gradually marginalizing or even disappearing in China. Since 2006, he and the other two old engineers have taken out pensions and several hundred thousand yuan from relatives and friends to start developing a new type of chromatographic analyzer. They have now completed trial production of experimental prototypes and declared two items. Invention patents will be launched during the year.

"In case of failure, I must spend years of savings on travel. Compared to tourism, the significance of this work is always greater." Feng Guoli said.

"Research Logistics Corps" was once most proud

Feng Guoli's "this work" refers to the supply of scientific equipment. Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and scientific equipment is one of the most important production materials. Doing a good job of "research logistics personnel" is something he is most proud of.

In 1989, he came to the newly established Shanghai Science Equipment Mall and was responsible for purchasing a variety of scarce scientific experimental equipment. At that time, there were no Internet or mobile phones. International and domestic exchanges were far less convenient than they are now. In addition to the strict controls on import and export in China, scientists engaged in cutting-edge scientific and technological research often lacked all kinds of new experimental equipment. Scientific equipment malls came into being. This was also the time when the State Science and Technology Commission explored the market for scientific equipment supply. In 1993, the Institute of Metallurgy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences undertook a “863 Plan” task and urgently needed to import high-purity organic chemicals such as arsine and phosphine. Because these reagents are characterized by high pressure, high toxicity, flammability and explosiveness, general import and export companies are reluctant to risk their imports. Feng Guoli and his colleagues knew that they actively took orders and actively contacted foreign manufacturers. Six months later, cargo ships filled with "dangerous gas" slowly entered the Huangpu River, and the shopping mall specially dispatched vehicles to the dock to "greet" and carefully "escort" to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the same year, this scientific mission was successfully completed.

At that time, the "special supply card" issued by scientific equipment stores to several major scientific research institutions became a popular item in the eyes of scientific researchers. Whenever there are important academic conferences held, scientific equipment stores receive consultation at venue venues and booths. In 1994, the State Science and Technology Commission held an experience exchange meeting for scientific equipment supply services in Beijing. Feng Guoli spoke on behalf of Shanghai. The speech that was knocked out with an old Chinese typewriter was collected today.

Before 500,000 euros "drawing fee", he decided to do it himself

A few years later, the merger of the Science Equipment Store and Shanghai Scientific Equipment Company, Feng Guoli continued to be enthusiastic for scientific research personnel to solve various equipment problems. However, the time has gradually changed from what it used to be.

With the deepening and frequent exchange of science and technology between China and foreign countries, the import of experimental equipment has become more and more simple, and it seems that the “research logistics army” is no longer necessary. With a touch of disappointment, Feng Guoli retired from the scientific equipment company in 2003. He later conducted a survey of the Shanghai scientific instrument market and found that it has almost become the world’s foreign scientific instrument company. More than 100 foreign-owned companies have set up operations and production facilities in the city, and some also intend to move the research and development center to Shanghai. In the past, the domestic equipment manufacturers that often contacted the business were almost pushed to the edge, and they were only able to carry out low-level duplication and low-cost vicious competition in the middle and low-end equipment.

Although he has been purchasing imported equipment for more than 20 years, Feng Guoli always feels bad. The scientific equipment market should not be entirely dominated by imported goods. A French expert once introduced him to a new type of chromatographic analyzer. Compared with traditional products, the detection efficiency is higher. With years of experience in scientific equipment work, he judged that the instrument was particularly suitable for the analysis and quality control of Chinese herbal medicines. The trial effect of the State Drug Administration confirmed Feng's judgment.

But this time, he did not directly import instruments, but proposed the idea of ​​cooperation processing between China and France. In order to reduce costs, the second is to increase the manufacturing capacity of the domestic scientific instrument industry. Unexpectedly, the negotiation has not yet begun. Foreign companies have proposed to collect 500,000 Euros for "drawing fees." “Can we not make it on our own?” Feng Guoli wants to be more unconvinced. In 2006, he took up two “after 30” and “after 40” engineers to prepare himself for a set of localization technology.

Starting an instrument from scratch, no money, no factory. Feng Guoli’s retirement salary was only a thousand yuan a month and he was not well-off. Fortunately, family members and friends all supported it. Everyone joined together for hundreds of thousands of yuan. One of the collaborators, Zhou Haijun’s son, provided free trial space. Taking into account the risk of the project, he determinedly did not want the other two old engineers to pay for it. "With such a big risk, they can't afford it more than I do, or let me take it all," said Feng Guoli.

Over the past few years, Beijing East Road and Qijiang Road are where Feng Guoli goes most. There, he always finds cheap and useful things. Analytical test strips require specialized films. He buys a large roll of raw materials from Beijing Road and takes them home to cut open irons with a flat iron. The instrument dampens the springs. He buys a bunch of springs, large and small, and tests one by one. The technical knowledge and practical experience accumulated by the three engineers over the years has made the project difficult and slow to advance.

Solitary palm is hard to be heard, and it is hoped that scientists will use "Made in China"

In 2010, under the financial support of the “Entrepreneurial Nursery” of the City Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Center, Feng Guoli’s team obtained a grant and set up a company to carry out prototype development. The owner of a factory in Songjiang saw a group of 60-70-year-olds so persistent that he was moved to work on a prototype at a cost price. However, a kind of helpless mood is always lingering in his heart.

Many prototype parts need to be taken to the laboratories of universities, institutes, or factories for commissioning. However, once the other party heard that the processing was more difficult, they shook their heads and heard that they only processed one or two, and they were even more unhappy. Difficult to draw drawings, but not mass production, high cost and low profits, why do you lose money to buy and sell? Sometimes it is not easy to find a processing unit. When the product is brought back, it is completely unqualified. What makes him sad is that he visited a lot of laboratories. When the other side opened his mouth, "We have imported more than 200 chromatographs here!" Feng Guoli felt that "The road was different and he was not involved" and he immediately retired. . He did not understand why he was proud to use imported equipment. Is it really necessary to use domestically produced scientific equipment?

Feng Guoli said that many award-winning projects in the history of the Nobel Prize are related to a specific, new type of experimental apparatus. Reliance on existing and imported products in scientific equipment will also have an impact on the originality and breakthrough of research results. From this perspective, the shrinking of the domestic scientific equipment industry, especially the instrument manufacturing industry, is a signal worthy of vigilance.

When he was not retired, Feng Guoli had inspected a famous American modern scientific equipment manufacturing and sales company. The product sales directory there is thicker than the dictionary, the logistics and distribution system is very advanced, the supply chain is spread all over the world, and the professionalism of the staff is also very high. He was eager to have one day in the country. He also had such a company in China and sent scientists and equipment manufactured in China to scientists for the first time.

However, he is also very clear that for this team from the beginning of the year of Mulberry, it is very likely that the day will not be able to wait. What he can do now is to quickly make a formal prototype and give it to scientists. Let more and more people focus on the domestic scientific equipment industry, at least, do not let it really slowly "disappeared."